With no objections from City Council, the way has been cleared for the relocation of State Liquor Agency Store No. 812 in Tornabene’s Drive Thru to the Giant Eagle store in Heritage Square.

By a unanimous voice vote Monday night, council authorized Clerk Julie Leggett to send a notice to the Ohio Division of Liquor Control in Reynoldsburg that it is not requesting a hearing on relocating the liquor store from 707 N. Crater Ave. (Tornabene’s) to 515 Union Ave. (Giant Eagle).

The request was made by Tamarkin Company, doing business as Giant Eagle. Councilman Robert Mueller said he believed it was a good move and made the motion to authorize Leggett to send the notice.

Mayor Richard Homrighausen said afterward that the relocation doesn’t mean that Tornabene’s Drive Thru is closing. The drive through, he said, will remain open and continue to sell all of its other products except the liquor sold through the state liquor store.

In another matter, Homrighausen reported that last Sunday through Wednesday, he and Dave Filippi, Municipal Light Plant superintendent, were in Washington, D.C., attending the annual American Public Power Association’s Legislative and Resolutions Conference.

The mayor said much of the time was spent in meetings concerned with various issues important to the more than 2,000 public power communities throughout the U.S. He said two afternoons were devoted to visiting with U.S. representatives and senators “discussing the most important issues with them and lobbying for their support.”

The most important issue, Homrighausen said, is a proposal being bandied about by the federal government to reduce and/or eliminate the tax-exempt status of municipal bonds. The bonds have been in existence since 1913 when the first IRS code was written “and thus it was extremely important to the Legislature at that point in the country’s history,” he added.

Homrighausen passed out several position papers issued by the APPA, which were presented to the legislators, and urged that local legislation be drafted.

In the city’s most recent bond issue of $9.6 million, if there were no tax-exempt financing, it would have cost the city an additional $1.7 million in additional taxes, the mayor said.

Council also heard from representatives of Kimble Recycling & Disposal, the city’s recycling contractor, that a six-week pilot program will be implemented April 4 in a north-end neighborhood to help determine potential benefits and cost savings of converting the entire city to 65-gallon totes.

The selected residents, who are to be notified of the program by mail, will be provided the totes to store all of their recyclables, as a substitute for the plastic bags being used. Current citywide recycling has been expanded to include all No. 3 through 7 rigid plastics.